Chapter Five- Smile

Flashback

I slid the piece of paper on her desk, knowing the cold and bitterness would come next. Never any warmth – no too much warmth would spoil a child. A child needed a lashing or two at times and a strict principle to be guided along with.

"A scholarship. Well, I hope you weren't expecting any congratulatory praise, because this is something that was expected from you the minute you entered school."

"Yes ma'am."

Without sparing the piece of paper another glance, she pushed it aside and stared at me with cold eyes.

"You know what is well expected of you, correct?"

"Yes."

"Good. You must remember that you are not like the other kids. I will not stand any disobedience from you, nor will I accept any foolishness while you are away. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Furthermore, I will not allow you to share a room with some under privileged kid who does as they please. Children like that will spoil your mind. You will get an apartment, close to your college, and live alone. Yes, solitude will strengthen the mind and soul."

"What about here?"

I usually never dared to ask questions, and so my unusual response to her order slightly caught her off-guard – only slightly, because she responded with a cold laugh.

"You are not to step foot into this house until you have completed your studies. Do I make myself clear to you?"

"…yes."

"Good, now leave my study."

"Yes Mother."

End of Flashback

"Yo Hinamori. Hi-na-mo-ri. Amu…hey?"

Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked to Kukai who was clearly at crossroads between being worried and amused. He handed me a napkin, but when I raised my brow at him, he merely pointed at the melted ice cream that was currently coating my hand.

"It isn't like you to be spacing out like that," he commented while I wiped the sticky mess off my hand.

"Yeah," I mumbled, tossing the used napkin the trash can near me.

He didn't seem to enjoy my unusual melancholy attitude, so he attempted to lighten the mood.

"Could it be that you've just experienced what they all 'love at first sight'?"

It was easy to tell that he was worried about me. I faked a haughty expression and looked at him.

"I don't fall in love Souma, remember that," I said with much less zeal than I had intended to put out, but he seemed to have bought my charade.

Not wanting to bother him any longer than I already had, I got up and wandered towards the large fountain that was the major centerpiece of the plaza. I stood amongst the other tourists and locals and gazed blankly at the magnificent water display.

Why had I suddenly remembered that? It had been a long time since I had specifically relived a memory like that. I racked my mind from possible reasons, but I only came to the fact that it might've happened because the devil had shown me Libra in the sky and then talked about his college course in astronomy. But even that was a horrible reason in itself.

Sighing, I licked the corner of my ice cream so it wouldn't drip onto my fingers like last time. I would probably have to pull an all-nighter and read or something just to forget.

I was once again snapped out of my thoughts when someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around to see a mass of azure hair and a pair of dark eyes staring into mine.

"What is it?" I asked wearily, turning around so I wouldn't have to see him.

It was easier to mask emotion when you didn't have to look at someone directly.

He stuffed his hands into his front pocket and stood beside me.

"You're not going to call me 'devil' and talk about my perverted ways and how I annoy the living shit out of you?"

Was he bitter? I wasn't too sure.

"No."

There was a silent pause, and I couldn't tell if he had left or not. I refused to check though, in case he hadn't left and really was standing there.

"Why not?"

I gave in to a brief laugh, before stopping it immediately.

"You're strange. Do you really want me to call you names and act like a whiny brat?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw him staring at me with wide eyes. But I could see it clearly; it was the same face Kukai had – he was worried. What was wrong with me? Why was I bringing all of this up to the surface where it didn't belong? No one would understand. I was just being a bother.

I turned and looked up at him – a tight smile on my face.

"Stop looking at me like that you perverted devil," I muttered.

When he continued to look at me, I faked an exasperated sigh and left. Unconsciously, as I was walking, I looked down to see that the ice cream had completely melted off my cone and was once again coating my hand. Sighing, I threw the remains away and wiped off the mess like last time.

x

As the day passed, I was able to push the memory further and further to the back of my mind. It wasn't that big of a deal to begin with; yet with each time a sliver of my thoughts would escape the tight bounds I had contained them with, I somehow ended up making an ordeal out of it.

Pushing the hair out of my face, I shifted my position on the couch and rested my head on the leather arms.

Idly watching the hands on the clock tick by, I remembered the conversation with my short-tempered landlady. I was in no way related to her and I had known her a little more than a year yet –

She had called.

And what of the woman I had known my entire life?

Nothing.

She was a cold woman…my mother.

Ikuto POV

Something was wrong, though I didn't exactly know what it was. Teasing Amu was entertaining, and seeing the annoyed spark in her eyes was amusing nonetheless. Earlier today however, I hadn't seen the spark. It was as if the light in her eyes had died out.

Sighing, I looked up to see Utau and Kukai looking at me expectantly.

"I can't believe Amu didn't want to come," began Kukai taking a large gulp of his drink.

"She's just in a bad mood; it'll be gone by tomorrow."

Kukai nodded his head, letting go of the subject. But I wasn't going to let go that fast; not until I learned what was wrong with her. Strange…I didn't even know why I cared so much.

"Why is she in bad mood?"

"You know," she began with a casual shrug of her shoulders. "Some stuff happens and it ruins your mood…that's all. Kukai, is our food here yet?"

"Not yet."

Smirking, I leaned forward so I was at least a few inches away from her.

"Don't be evasive Utau. What kind of stuff?"

She huffed out an annoyed breath.

"I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone about it. And you won't ask her about it either Ikuto, do you hear me? I'm not going to sit here and let you make her recall things she'd rather forget."

Before I could even respond, the waitress came by our table and placed our orders in front of us. The conversation was dropped and forgotten as we dug into our foods.

Amu POV

The sun had already set and from the balcony door I could see the nighttime sky. Sighing inwardly, I pushed the door open and leaned against the railing. I looked up at the sky and smiled; the 'box' was just faintly visible to the naked eye. It was strangely relaxing looking at Libra through the sky; it almost felt like I was seeing myself, without a care in the world, in the sky.

Just as I was beginning to get lost in my thoughts, a knock came at the door.

"It's open," I called not moving from my spot.

Once I heard the door shut, I turned around to see the devil standing in front of the door – a hand in his pocket and another hand holding a white box.

"What's that?" I asked walking away from the balcony.

"Dessert. You didn't come to the restaurant tonight, so we brought you back some stuff."

"Oh, thank you."

I grabbed the box from him, deliberately making sure that our fingers didn't touch, and placed it on the table.

"Sit down; I'll get some plates and stuff."

"I was actually just going to drop these off. I thought that they'd cheer you up."

I didn't say a word while I watched him turn around and leave my room. Walking over to the table, I opened the box to see a small chocolate cake decorated with strawberries; on it was a small marzipan doll with pink hair holding a banner that said 'smile' in bright red pink letters.

How could someone, who I'd treated so badly, want to cheer me up?

Author's Notes

Hello everyone c:

I'm so sorry for the late update; I had a severe case of writer's block for this chapter for the longest time and even now that I finally managed to finish it, I'm not satisfied with how it turned out. No promises made, but I'm going to try my very hardest to squeeze another chapter out by tomorrow *fingers crossed*.

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